Blessed (13 page)

“It's sink or swim time, so I need to learn as much as I can. I appreciate you taking the time to help me, Aiden.” She turned to Jack and gave him an arch look. “And, Jack, I appreciate you not using your joy buzzer on me.”

“Is that what they call it these days? Don't worry, bunny. Your joy buzzer is already spoken for.” Jack gave Eliana an innocent smile, ignoring her glare.

Aiden glowered at Jack. “We need to get going. There's someone else I want to introduce you too.”

Jack gave Eliana a hug and slipped his hands onto her butt. “It was nice meeting you, bunny. Don't let Aiden hog you to himself. You can come visit me anytime you're in the neighborhood or you need to talk.”

She removed his hands. “Thanks, and if you try to cop a feel again without my permission, you'll be pulling back stubs.”

Jack laughed and easily dodged a mock punch Eliana threw at him. Aiden watched them play with tight lips and he gave Jack a warning look. She had to hide a smile, rather pleased at the way Aiden seemed almost…jealous.

“Let's go,” Aiden said in a gruff voice.

Eliana made one more try to punch Jack's shoulder and followed Aiden with a wave. “Wait up, Aiden. Where are we going? Do you want me to follow you in my car?”

He stopped and turned to her. The sunlight brought out the red in his hair. “It might be easier if we ride together. Where did you park?”

“Next to the store. Will my car be okay there?” She patted her pocket to make sure her keys were there. The thought of being alone with him, really alone, for the first time made her heart race. She bit her lower lip, trying to hide a smile.

“Sure, Jack has anti-theft spells on his lot, so no one will mess with it. We can take my car.”

Eliana let out a low mental whistle as they cruised the street in Aiden's SUV. She didn't know where he got his money from, but unless they paid teachers like movie stars here, he had a big bank account. She leaned back into the butter-soft leather of his black Hummer H2, with its tinted windows and chrome plating. It was a far cry from Big Fran, and she felt out of place in its luxury.

He turned down the radio from the jazz station they were listening to. “We're going to meet a friend of mine who is a Chosen of Cupid.”

“Really? I didn't know there were any Temples to Cupid around here.”

“There aren't, but Cupid doesn't need a Temple to have a power base locally. He has Valentine's Day and all the romantic notions of love to keep him going.”

“That makes sense. Those greeting cards with his image on them have to give him a boost if gods gain their power from people worshiping them. And every kid knows who Cupid is.” She glanced through the windshield at the park they were approaching. “It's nice being so high like this. You can see a lot more.”

“And it's nice having armor plating, bulletproof glass, and puncture-resistant tires,” he replied as he glanced at her with a playful grin.

“Wow.”

“My mother had it custom-made for me,” he explained. “She's a High Priestess to the Norse Goddess of War, Magic, and Love, Freyja. She takes the protection of her children seriously. Hence the tank with leather seats.”

“And I thought my parents were bad,” she said in a shocked voice and tapped on the thick window.

He pulled into a parking space in front of a large playground. Brightly colored swings and jungle gyms sat in the middle of a circle of benches while parents watched their children play as they sat and read books or talked with each other. Aiden got out of the SUV and came around to her side, opening her door and helping her down.

Trying not to stare at Aiden, she strolled across the park with him. Scanning the parents at the playground, she tried to figure out which one worked for Cupid. Was it the cute blonde lady with the bob and the baby girl in the pink stroller? Or the tall brunette who gave her boy a hug and a kiss before sending him off to play.

“Billy!” Aiden called out and raised a hand in greeting. The two women ignored him, but a giant black man wearing a leather vest over a white flannel shirt stood and waved back.

“That's Cupid's Chosen?” she asked in a low voice.

He leaned and whispered into her ear, his breath warm as his lips grazed her skin. Her nipples hardened painfully and she barely bit back a moan. “Not what you were expecting, huh?”

“Um, no.”

“Aiden,” Billy called out in a deep voice. “It's good to see you again, my friend. How's Kayla doing? Last time I saw her was at the racetrack.”

“She's doing great. Working on another winner for a buyer out in California. I'll let her know you said hi,” Aiden replied as he shook hands with the enormous man.

Billy was at least a foot taller than her and pure muscle underneath a keg of a belly. Different colored beads decorated the dreadlocks that hung down his back, held back with a leather thong. His fists seemed as large as her head, and a tattoo of Cupid stood out on his muscled forearm.

“Hello there, you must be Eliana. Aiden forgot to mention how pretty you are.” Billy winked at Aiden, who rolled his eyes.

“Eliana, meet Billy. Billy is our resident chubby love angel.”

Billy laughed in a booming voice and she couldn’t help but grin. Several of the mothers sitting near them shot a nervous glance their way. “I may be chubby, but my wife and kids still love me.”

Billy waved to an adorable little girl and her older brother playing on a tire swing who waved back with big smiles.

“Billy owns a local nightclub.” Aiden selected a seat on the park bench. “It's a great place to do his work for Cupid. He sets up couples, gets paid, and helps to keep an eye on the coming and goings of the Destro crowd.”

“A successful local nightclub,” Billy added. “The job allows me to spend time during the day with my wife and kids while shooting people for Cupid’s amusement.”

“Shooting people?”

Billy laughed again. “With Cupid’s love arrow.”

She looked at Billy. “You shoot people with an arrow?”

Aden chuckled and Billy said, “No, that might be a little obvious and freak people out. So Cupid improvised, hence my fashion accessories.”

Billy touched a purple bead wrapped around one of his dreadlocks.

“I don't get it,” she said with a puzzled frown.

“It's the beads. They are Billy's equivalent of a love arrow,” Aiden explained.

Billy slipped the carved purple glass bead from his hair and handed it to her. It was cool in her palm and seemed heavier than its size. Her hand faintly hummed with a low level vibration as she rolled the bead around.

“Each of these is a different love spell,” Billy continued as she watched the sunlight glimmer on the sparkling surface of the bead. “One of my gifts from Cupid is to see potential love of different kinds and help it along if I can. The purple one is for possessive love. The type of love that makes you want to protect and cherish someone.”

She started to hand the bead back to Billy, who shook his head and held his hands up. “No, that one is for you. Cupid sent me an email this morning asking me to give the arrow to you if I happened to see you. Put it on a necklace or something so you don't lose it. Last thing we need is for a moron to find the bead and accidentally invoke the power in it.”

“An email?” she asked with arched brows as she carefully put the bead in her pocket.

Aiden seemed distracted as he glanced at her. “The gods and goddesses move with the times. They find email much more efficient than a messenger pigeon or smoke circles.”

“Why would he want me to have an arrow?”

“Who knows why the gods do what they do.” He shrugged. “I’ve been in Cupid’s service long enough to trust him completely, so he says to do it, I do it.”

Billy's little girl ran to them and said in a sweet voice, “Daddy, would you push me on the swing please?”

He shook his head. “Sorry, Lindsey, I'm talking with my friends right now. Maybe Erol will push you?”

The little girl stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “But he can't push as high as you can!”

Eliana smiled and held out her hand. “Hi, Lindsey, I’m Eliana. If your Daddy doesn't mind, maybe I can give you a push?”

The little girl studied her and broke out into a wide smile. “Okay. Daddy, can your friend push me on the swing please?”

Billy looked to Eliana, who stood holding the little girl’s hand. “Are you sure? Don't feel like you have to. Her brother can push her on the swing just fine.”

“No, it's okay. I worked at a day camp in high school. I like playing with kids.”

“Okay then. Have fun,” Billy called after them as they raced toward the swings where Erol was waiting for them.

****

Keeping a smile on his face, Aiden turned to Billy. “What the hell is going on?”

Billy lowered his voice to a low rumble. “I should be asking you that. Cupid was serious about me making sure she got that bead. Have you seen any Destro taking notice of her yet?”

Aiden nodded, his lips pressed into a grim line. “Yeah, some asshole tried to attack her yesterday.” He gripped the back of the bench and tried to keep a friendly smile on his face as Eliana watched them in the distance. “I hardly know her at all. I have no idea who she hangs out with or what her home life is like. It makes it really hard to protect her.”

“Don't forget you find her attractive,” Billy said with a small smile. “I could see your interest in her shining out of your aura as you walked up here.”

Aiden tried to keep the hopeful look off his face. “True. Can you tell me what she thinks about me?”

Billy chuckled and shook his finger. “I could, but that wouldn't be much fun now, would it?”

“Asshole,” Aiden muttered with a good-natured smile.

Aiden watched Eliana walk toward them with both children in hand. The sun brought out the gold and amber highlights in her hair, and made her tanned skin glow against the pale blue of her shirt.

Billy quickly said, “Keep an eye on her. For whatever reason, she has a lot of gods interested in her well-being at the moment. They would only be offering all of this protection if they expected or saw something bad coming her way.”

“I know. I need to get her trained on shielding as soon as I can. I wanted to introduce her to you and Jack so she would know you can be a Chosen and still lead a normal life.”

Billy roared with laughter. “You think Jack and I are good examples of normal? Man, you need to get out more.”

Aiden ignored him and watched Eliana. Her long ponytail blew behind her in the breeze and her smile brought out her dimples. Her easy grace and good nature made her a natural with the children. To his dismay, Aiden realized he was falling for her, hard, and there was nothing he could do to stop himself. It wasn’t just lust, he liked her. A lot. His mind knew she was forbidden, that he could majorly screw up both her life and his if they got involved in anything beyond a mentor/student relationship. Unfortunately, his heart and body obviously didn't care what his logic had to say about the matter.

Watching Lindsey run toward them, Billy knelt and opened his arms.

“Hi, Daddy!” Lindsey said as she threw her arms around Billy. Erol was more subdued, but he held onto his dad's hand and watched Aiden with big dark eyes.

“I haven't seen you at my club, Eliana. When are you going to come grace my dance floor with your presence?” Billy asked as he swung Lindsey onto his shoulders.

“I wish. I'm afraid I really don’t have a lot of free time between work and school.”

“Aww, well, we can't have our newest Chosen left out in the cold. You make Aiden take you to my club some night, and I'll make sure you get the VIP treatment. Or you can ditch this boring old man and come by yourself, tell the bouncer to come get me, and we'll see what moves you have.”

The idea of dancing with Eliana, of feeling her soft body against his, made Aiden clench his hands into fists and dig his nails into his palms to try and distract himself. “We need to head out.”

Eliana gave him a shy glance that did nothing to help his self-control. “Okay.”

After saying their goodbyes, Aiden and Eliana strolled back to the car. Once inside, she ran a hand over her pocket. “How am I supposed to invoke the charm, and what does it do?”

“You invoke it by saying 'Cupido' and tapping it with your fingernail three times. Then you throw it at the person you want it to work on.” He drove out of the parking lot, trying to keep his mind focused on the road and not on how good she smelled. “Billy said that is a possessive love charm, so whoever you use it on will fall in love with you in a way that will make them want to protect and cherish you. Handy to have, but also dangerous if not used wisely.”

“Why do you think Cupid told Billy to give it to me?”

Aiden glanced at her and found himself drowning in the molten silver of her gaze. He didn’t think she was aware of how naturally sensual she was, of how the simple act of her licking her lower lip made him grip the steering wheel to keep himself from stroking over her plump lips with his thumb, his mouth, his cock. The sudden image of looking down and watching her suck him had him gritting his teeth.

Forcing himself to respond to her question, he said, “Could be for a lot of different reasons. An oracle could have seen you would need it and passed along the word, or a prophet could have predicted it. While Cupid is a god, he's not all seeing and all knowing. Gods know infinitely more than we do, or ever will, but they are still servants of the Creator. Nothing is set in stone. A different decision here or there can change the path of many lives.”

“Well, at least I got cute jewelry out of the day. And I got permission to go clubbing,” she said in a teasing voice, then held up her hand to admire the ring on her slender finger. It was shifting in patterns of green and purple now with a touch of gold.

“I'm glad it wasn't a total waste of time then. And you're not stepping foot in that club without me, Student.”

“Why not?”

“Because you're underage. I don't want you getting into any trouble or getting Billy's club in trouble with the police.” And because he would kick the ass of any man that touched her.